


Romance and Reading

by Greenisher



Series: The rewards of being loved [4]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Bisexual Disaster Luz Noceda, Emperor Belos is quite scary, F/F, Gay Disaster Amity Blight, Hormones, Luz Noceda Needs a Hug, Touch-Starved Amity Blight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:00:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29210766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greenisher/pseuds/Greenisher
Summary: Reading romance novels always leads to anxiety and expectations...and a mess of hormones, especially if you're a complete gay disaster.(Also something is definitely going on with Amity's parents, but she's definitely not going to focus on THAT while her girlfriend is busy being cute in front of her).
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Series: The rewards of being loved [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2119710
Comments: 13
Kudos: 208





	Romance and Reading

**Author's Note:**

> Continuing this so I can write gooey first relationship stuff in the foreground while the world goes to shit in the background!

The Blights were out, still.

The Blight _parents_ , anyway. Odalia and Alador. Her father had summoned an abomination for the first time in  _ years _ to act as a babysitter, which suggested that they'd be away for a while and that they were worried about something. 

It had lasted about two minutes against the twins.

Still, Amity mused as she finished her homework quietly, that was a bad sign. Alador rarely showed any signs of anxiety over the wellbeing of his children; they tended to look after each other. What had her parents so agitated?

Her birthday was coming up, but she doubted it was anything to do with planning a surprise party. Gus, who she was slowly becoming friendlier with (he knew  _ so much _ about humans) had mentioned that his father was spotting more and more well connected witches gathering together, whispering. More posters of Eda had gone up, a few of Lilith. 

Odalia and Alador did not yet seem to realise that their youngest child spent most of her free time under the same roof as the Owl Lady and her sister. She'd been careful to seem quiet, using an illusion spell Gus (he was  _ such _ a good boy) had created and her siblings had positioned to make it seem as though she was just...doing more homework. They liked that. 

When they'd left, scurrying out with their hoods up, as though they could somehow make themselves seem anonymous as they left their very expensive house wearing their very expensive clothes, Amity  _ had _ actually been working in her room. Luz and Eda had flown off together to look for something - healing plants and herbs that were useful in easing pain. 

("It's for Lilith," Luz had told her. "She's still not used to the curse, and Eda's worried cuz she's in pain."

"I'm not worried!" Eda had shot back from the kitchen. "I just don't need her slowing me down because she's busted a hip!"

"I heard that!" Lilith, yelling back.)

They'd needed a lot. And Eda had had more than healing herbs on her list. This had looked like a stock up mission. But why?

Amity tried to focus on the formulae in front of her, twiddling her pencil, face dark as she solved problem after problem with remarkable ease. Why wouldn't anyone tell her anything?

Eda, Lilith, Alador, Odalia. Even Luz, to an extent. 

Luz had been especially quiet lately, a little troubled. 

What was going  _ on _ ?

It was hard to think about all of this. So she pushed it out of her head. Focused on the paper in front of her until every question was answered, every bit of work completed, until there were no blank spots left on the paper and it was covered in writing.

Homework and studying were easier than real life. Any problems on the page could be solved. Problems with people were harder. 

Amity leaned back in her chair and considered the ceiling of her room. She'd finished homework, extra homework, extra credit, and read ahead in her textbook and completed the exercises there. There were still three hours before she absolutely  _ needed _ to sleep. 

Three hours to get lost in meditations on how turbulent the world around her was becoming, the secrets that were slowly gaining mass and momentum. She needed a distraction. She needed  _ escapism. _

She needed that book she'd checked out of the library a few days ago.

Amity had always had a problem with reading up an age group when it came to romances, always hungry to know what sordid details of love and yearning were being kept from her. This latest one, hidden behind her textbooks whenever she left for school so her parents couldn't find it, was even more torrid than the last few. Which made it a source of complete fascination.

The beautiful Lady Cordelia, a noble witch of dignity and honour, captured by the demonic vampire Count Ivan, a revenge against her father who'd slighted him. Or something? It was hard to keep track of that plot element. The Lady Cordelia was captive in Count Ivan's magnificent castle, but he allowed her freedom to roam it and encouraged her unique interests and skills by challenging her to chess and tennis. They grew a mutual respect, both slowly understanding the other more. 

Dropping her textbooks on her desk and flopping onto her bed, Amity lay on her stomach, legs kicking as she read. Where she'd left off, Lady Cordelia had found the Count injured by a pack of wild dogs, wandering the nearby forest, and had cleaned him up by gently dabbing his wounds while thinking a lot of metaphors to describe his eyes. In this chapter, they had given up all pretense and were overcome by passion. She read with interest and flushed cheeks as they kissed, bosoms heaving, and then…

Oh.

Oh this was…

This was  _ graphic _ . Okay. 

She felt her cheeks overheat as the author described in breathless tones the way clothes fell off, flowery descriptions of anatomy, and then…

Amity closed the book quickly. Opened it up for a quick peek. Should she just... skim this part? She opened one eye and tried to scan the parts where Lady Cordelia cried out in passion. And then, guiltily, looked back up to reread. Her cheeks were burning, and there was that sensation, a warm, liquid pulsation in the base of her stomach, a more intense version of what happened when she and Luz kissed open mouthed. Why was her response so physical? What was being written about here, was it...was that something girls liked? 

The book was describing something she didn't quite understand. A tangle of limbs. She tried to make sense of it, head cocking to one side as she tried to picture the characters (she'd make a diagram, but someone finding that would be  _ disastrous _ ). Alright, so if Lady Cordelia was...under, how were her ankles...? What sort of twisting were they…

Oh. 

Oh no, she got it. 

She was picturing  _ that _ , reading more about how good this felt for Lady Cordelia, when the images rearranged themselves in her mind and she found herself instead of picturing what idly considering what Luz would look like underneath  _ her _ .

Luz, hair pushed back, out of breath, flushed. Making those soft noises she sometimes made when Amity's fingers slid over the arc of her neck when she was already sensitive. That little whine she'd made the other day when Amity had caught the shell of her ear between her fangs and bitten down just a little bit. Luz sweating. Wrestling Luz. Luz underneath her. 

Amity dropped her book. She pulled a pillow over her head, trying to push that thought away. Her entire face felt like it could glow in the dark. 

She forced herself to take several deep breaths, thinking good thoughts like  _ don't think of that don't think of that _ and  _ think of anything but that _ . She picked the book back up. It was best not to give it power over her. That meant reading further, she was pretty sure. Finishing the scene. That would prove it had no power over her. Right? 

_Right_.

And besides, it was all heterosexual sex. It wasn't like she was going to be getting any pointers to pay attention to, or be interested by. So…maybe she should pick it up and try again?

The book opened to a description of the Count with his head between the thighs of Lady Cordelia, Lady Cordelia swearing that this was the best thing that could ever happen to a young woman no matter her sexuality. "Oh  _ come on! _ " Amity dropped the book onto her own face and held it there, trying to get her rebel body under control.  _ Don't think of Luz under you _ , she told herself sternly, and instead had a flash of Luz  _ on top _ of her, pressing her gently to the mattress, brown eyes so kind, hair messy from exertion. She groaned into the book as her body responded. 

She didn't need this. Except that...there was a powerful aching sensation between her legs that told her that she  _ did _ need this, or something like it. She put the book down and tried to martial her thoughts, distracted. All that came to mind were thoughts of Luz. Beautiful, warm, sweating, smiling.

This wasn't going to work.

She took several deep breaths, and when agitation continued, she finally, guiltily, picked the book back up and awkwardly slid her hand down, between her thighs. She would think very hard about Lady Cordelia, she decided, to stop herself from being creepy about her girlfriend. But when her fingers got to work, her imagination ran away with her, remembering Luz's warm hands, the way she nuzzled into her hair to whisper  _ Hermosa _ , the way their bodies felt pressed into each other, warm fingers skidding over her skin, and that was almost too much. 

Maybe an hour after she'd finished and hidden the copy of  _ The Darkest Count _ her scroll vibrated. A text from Luz. 

> _ Did you finish your homework, hermosa? _

Oh. Right.

> _ Yep. Took care of extra credit too. _

_ > Don't work too hard! _

_ > I hope you had a good evening! _

> (Smiling severed head emoji

> _ I did. _

(She had. Better not explain why…)

> _ I got some reading done. _

> _ Are you still at the Knee _ ?

> _ Just got back!  _

_ > Should I sneak up and visit you? _

_ > No way. _

_ > I'll sneak out and visit you. _

> _ Tengo muchas ganas de verte _

_ > Te quiero! _

_ > Te quiero. _

Spanish was getting...easier. She could almost speak in full sentences now. Sometimes Luz would cuddle in against her and whisper words into her ear, trace their meanings, help her put them together. That was as good as kissing, and had the same effect on her: a total weakening of her knees. Luz warm against her, her accent sending Amity's brain into space, hardly anything remaining but feelings, the gentle sensation of Luz's breath on her sensitive ear, the heat of Luz's hand on her stomach as she explained the word, had Amity repeat it. 

It was a very good way to memorize words.

Tonight her girlfriend was waiting for her, legs dangling over the edge of the cliff where they'd danced at Grom. Amity watched her for a moment, the way her hair was tousled in the light breeze, the starlight on her shoulders, her bare forearms. Out here, she looked small. Her shoulders were bunched up as though she were thinking hard about something. What was wrong? What weight was she carrying on those little shoulders?

Luz caught her looking and turned to wave, and she finally stepped closer, sitting down and resting her head on Luz's shoulder. Luz kissed the top of her head. Their hands entwined and she breathed out easily. “Te quiero,” she said, instead of hello. Hello didn’t seem like enough these days. It didn’t contain what she wanted to say: you make my day better by being in it.

Luz said it back, “Te quiero! Did you find a new book to read, or were you still reading the vampire book?”

Amity had been attempting to snuggle into Luz’s shoulder without looking like she was snuggling (she was, after all, too dignified to  _ snuggle _ ), but the mention of the book had her stiffening. “Um.” Oh no. Oh dear. “Yes?”

_ Please don’t ask too much about it. _

“Oh! Guess what! I picked up a copy too!” Luz punched the air. “I thought we could read together!”

“No!” Oh no. “I mean--” Luz was looking at her curiously. Her cheeks burned. For a moment she fought with herself, the part of her that wanted space to clear her mind and lean back versus the part of herself that never wanted to stop making physical contact with her girlfriend. “It’s quite...um. I mean. It’s very--  _ graphic _ .”

“Oh, all the sex scenes?” Luz said, and Amity felt something like relief when she saw her human’s ears go red. “Y-yeah, yeah...I kind of...skimmed those.”

Her shoulders relaxed. “You saw them too?” Oh no. What if Luz thought she’d  _ known _ about them? “I didn’t know it was so explicit!”

She felt her human giggle a little. “Yeah, it got super torrid too! So many metaphors.” Luz shifted, squeezing her, shifting so that she could comfortable lay her head on her chest. Amity automatically encircled her in her arms. “I didn’t know The Boiling Isles used so many oblique metaphors. Eda loved it.”

“ _ EDA _ read it?!”

“Yeah, she’s got my copy. She said it’s hilarious.” 

“Oh no.” Eda was going to think she was a  _ complete _ degenerate… “I didn’t know. Really!”

Luz’s hand was gently rubbing her back. “I know you’re not looking for that kind of thing,” she told her, confidently. “You like stuff where people help each other and sacrifice their noble station and stuff. Like princesses giving up their positions for peasants and stuff. Same as me.” She looked up, chin on Amity’s chest. “ _ Hey, hang on a second! _ ”

Amity kissed her forehead quickly, trying to head that conversation off at the pass. “I do! I like stories about people being in love and stuff.”

“And lonely girls who meet mysterious bad boys like me,” her girlfriend was smiling up at her innocently. Amity’s heart felt full as she brushed her lips across Luz’s forehead.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “And otters with a dark side.” Luz leaned up and their lips met. “Te quiero,” she said, because she liked that no matter how many times she said it, it still made Luz smile up at her, blushing. 

“So…” Luz said, snuggled into her. “Did you like the sex scenes?”

If they hadn’t been sat right by a cliff edge, Amity would’ve jumped up and toppled her over. She forced herself to sit still. “What?”

“The sex scenes! I was skimming through it when I found some. They were so embarrassing. But sort of hot, right?”

“Luz!” Oh no, oh no she was red. Oh no. She stared at her hands, both clasped around her girlfriend. 

“No?”

“I…” She swallowed. “A little bit.” Oh, this was embarrassing. She looked away, up at the stars, sure that her girlfriend would be able to look into her eyes and know exactly what she'd pictured; her beautiful body on the bed, her smile, what she looked like underneath her… Unfortunately, Luz followed her, leaning in closer.

"Mami," she said, "My mom, she says it's normal to be curious at our age."

Curious. She looked back down, red faced. Her girlfriend was smiling at her in that easy, reassuring way, her cheek still resting on Amity's chest. Curious. "Yeah?"

"Yeah! It's hormones and junk. I got a long talk about it." There was a haunted look in her eyes. "A  _ very _ long talk." She sat up, and pulled Amity in close, until they were hugging as equals. Amity closed her eyes, her heartbeat slowing down, calming. "It's normal to be curious, you just have to make sure you're ready before you...experiment with other people."

"Right," she said. "Ready." She did  _ not _ feel ready. 

"And if you don't feel ready that's fine, and a good partner respects that!"

"I don't feel ready." 

"Oh gosh." Luz leaned back, smiling wide. "Oh thank gosh. Me neither. Those scenes made me feel  _ so _ nervous!"

Amity sighed, and then breathed in, moving back to a hug. "Y-yeah. Sometimes it's... nice to think about? But I…" she breathed out. "I really like you. I really l-..." She took in a breath. It was easier to say it in another language, to have the emotion described, to show it. She took a breath, closing her eyes. "I really love you. But doing anything more than kissing feels…"

"Scary?" Luz prompted.

"Yeah." She opened her eyes, and found that she was being gazed at with a face of deep understanding. She leaned in and kissed her, lips tingling. "I do like kissing," she said, after a moment. "And being able to do this," she added, reaching up to tickle Luz's ear. "And this," she added, with uncharacteristic boldness, reaching down to grab Luz's leg and pull it up onto her lap. "I like this a lot. I think I'm happy with this for now."

"And we can always dance," Luz said, her hands on Amity's shoulders. "I like you touching my legs too. Especially because you go  _ so _ red."

She was red now. But it was nice, she thought, resting her arms on Luz's legs. "You should," she said, then bit her bottom lip. "I'd like for you to scoop me again. You know. When you...when you want to."

Luz pulled her legs off of Amity's lap and said, "scoop!" and lifted her up. "I've been practising. I do  _ push-ups _ now."

"How long can you hold me up for?"

"A little bit," Luz looked very pleased with herself. Amity kissed her cheek and lay her head on her shoulder.

"Lucky me," she said, and felt suddenly embarrassed. Was that alright to say? "I bet I could hold you up for longer than you can hold me."

Luz flushed and grinned and said, "this the jock competitive streak coming out?"

"Maybe," she leaned in, felt her stomach flip. Working on sudden impulse, reaching down, she caught Luz's hand and brought it to her waist. She was shaking a little as she took Luz's hand and brought it to where her shirt ended. Slid it under the cloth, so that Luz was touching her bare skin. When she managed to get up the courage to look up at Luz, Luz was looking back at her. Her eyes were so brown, so warm. Her mouth was ever so slightly open, a look of wonder on her human's face. "Is that okay?" She asked, reaching up to cup Luz's cheeks, suddenly worried she'd gone too far.

Luz leaned in and kissed her again. Amity felt her tongue gently press to her lips and she opened her mouth for her, leaning in. With warm fingers sliding up her shirt, the soft noises Luz was making as she smiled into their kiss, Amity pressed into her. She wanted to be as close to her as possible. Luz fell backwards, still holding her, and Amity found herself on top. She steadied herself, hands either side of Luz's shoulders.

Luz was gazing up at her, flushed, smiling, hair tousled, head cocked very slightly to one side. She flashed back again to earlier that night, her dream of Luz beneath her, and felt her face go entirely red. "Um," she said. Luz smiled at her and she felt her entire body go weak. What if she was ready  _ now _ ? Luz's hand was still where she'd put it, under her shirt. "Can we kiss more?" 

Luz curled up off the ground to press her forehead to hers, laughing. "Yeah! I really wanna kiss you more!"

They moved to each other once more, and Amity was aware of her body pulsing, that pressing down on Luz was having a wild affect on her. The sensation was overpowering, intoxicating. It drove everything else out of her mind, especially when her teeth caught Luz's bottom lip and she felt Luz's hips drive upward and into her, a soft cry from below. Now  _ that  _ felt good. Reaching down, she directed Luz's hand further up her shirt, to her back, her side. For a few moments they were locked together, heads empty, her hands on either side of Luz's beautiful face, one of Luz's hands  _ up her shirt, _ the other…

Where was her other hand?

She felt it then, Luz's clever human fingers reaching, catching her, running over the pointy tip of her ear. The noise she made into the kiss was absolutely undignified, and when she pulled back there was a look of deep desire on her human's face, a look of need. Her brain wasn't firing right, neurons and paths spluttering out in the face of her girlfriend's want. "Hey," Luz said, softly, conspiratorial. "Did you know you're purring?"

Amity went somehow an even deeper red. "What?!"

"You started purring!" Luz laughed, and the tension broke. Her knees were weak, and she sank down, first on top of Luz, groaning into her shoulder, and then she rolled off and lay next to her. 

"I don't purr," she said. And then said, "Only sometimes." Luz ran her fingers over her ear and Amity made an undignified noise, pressed her face into her human's shoulder. The mood had changed again. They were back to being normal teenagers.

"When I'm ready," Amity said, slowly, hand searching for Luz's. "And you're ready too. Do you think...I mean. How should we say we're ready? Do we have a signal?"

Luz's fingers were running through her hair, her nails gently scraping Amity's scalp. "My mom says you need to be having a conversation, and be in communication with each other. So you both know."

Communication. Her bane. Amity sighed low and cuddled in. "What if we just do a secret handshake that means we both feel ready?"

"We can do whatever makes you comfortable." The fingers in her hair felt so nice. Amity quelled the light rumble of a purr in her chest, trying to turn it into a sigh. "We can shake hands. Or do a special hand wiggle. Or just...say!"

Amity wasn't ready. But the kisses - the make-out and touching - had pushed her towards readiness, she thought. With her eyes shut she remembered Luz beneath her, hips jolting up, and made a little noise of pleasure. "Yeah," she agreed. "We can talk about it. I want to...I want to figure that stuff out with you."

They were quiet for a little while. She was content to try and let her body calm down, heart return to normal. Luz was warm, oddly quiet. 

"Hey," the human said, after a while. "Do you want to sleep over tonight?" Amity opened her mouth to say  _ I can't _ , and saw how strangely sad she seemed again, how oddly small. 

"I can ask," she agreed. "Or get the twins to cover for me. Our parents have been away a lot. I don't think they're back yet. Em and Ed would have time to make an illusion me."

"Cool," Luz looked up at the stars, reaching down to Amity's hand. "I think I need you to be my big spoon."

"I'm...not a spoon?"

Luz laughed. "Remember when you slept over and hugged me?  _ That's  _ spooning."

"Oh! Yeah. That was...that was really nice." She tried to hide her red face, burying it into Luz's shoulder. Her human's hand was still up her shirt, fingers splayed over her skin. "I can do that." She leaned up, gazing down at her. " _ Are _ you okay? You've been so quiet."

Luz held it in for a few seconds. Then her bottom lip wobbled and she fell apart, tears rolling down her cheeks. " _ Itlooksliketheresgonnabeabigfightandeveryonesreallytenseandifeellikeitsmyfaultand- _ "

This was bad. Luz was demonstrative, emotional, but rarely seemed to be so upset. What had happened? She felt a flush of mortification that she'd been so deeply focused on her hormones and make-outs that she hadn't seen the depths of her upset. Amity wrapped her up in her arms instinctively, kissed her forehead and said, "Luz. One word at a time."

"TheemperorissomeantoEdaandthecoventhing," Luz took a breath, and garbled out, "dayofunitycomingaoonandhewantsadoortothehumanworldand--"

" _ Luz! _ Amity kissed her forehead again, holding her. "I know. I know you're in trouble with the Emperor." She took a deep breath. She'd never said that out loud before. Luz considered a wanted criminal by the system Amity had been working towards joining since she had first learned to walk, talk and cast was something she'd pushed to the back of her mind. Was it time to bring it back up, think about it again? How did she reconcile her dreams of the emperor's coven with her reality? What if she and Luz one day ended up the way Eda and Lilith had, one the tool of the empire, the other a fugitive?

Philosophy was hard. Loving Luz was easy. She decided to focus on loving Luz.

"I know you're in trouble with the emperor. But I'm here for you." She curled her body around Luz, holding her. "And I can be your big spoon until you feel like you can talk in words." 

Luz did not start talking again. But she rolled over and let herself be held, her hand moving from Amity's waist to make a fist in the cloth of her shirt, clinging on for dear life. Amity kissed the top of her head, and said, "Te quiero, Luz." She bit her lip and ruminated over the Spanish she knew, wanting to say something meaningful, unsure of how. She managed, "Tu mejoras el mundo," and saw something soft and beautiful in her girlfriend's face. She always looked so  _ happy _ whenever Amity managed to say anything to Spanish that it made Amity want to spend every day learning it, speaking it. 

"Te quiero," Luz said back, softly. Fondly, she slipped her foot between Luz's ankles. Luz leaned in close and Amity closed her eyes, expecting another kiss. And instead felt Luz's breath tickle her ear as she said, "Um, Amity? Sorry for having a little breakdown there. We're still real close to a cliff, maybe we should head back home before we get all into this and roll off it?" Her sweet round ears went red. "To my home! The Owl House, I mean. Not that it's  _ not _ your home. If you want!" 

Later that night, alone in Luz's room in The Owl House, Amity kept her promise. Cuddled up to Luz, she found that her human had grown ever so slightly. They were the same height now, Luz somehow even ganglier as though being stretched out rather than growing. But in her arms, she still seemed so small. Fragile. Just a human. But  _ her _ human. Amity kissed her. "I'll keep you safe," she said softly, a promise whispered in the dark. 

Dark things were coming. An emperor was moving on the chessboard, alliances being made, strongholds strengthened. Something big was going to happen, the Boiling Isles tense with electricity before the storm. 

But here, everything was calm. Her entire world lay between her chest and the loop of her arms, in the soft body beside her. 

"Te quiero," she whispered again, and hoped it gave Luz sweet dreams.


End file.
